1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a starter including a noise reduction filter for reducing noise emitted from a motor of the starter.
2. Description of Related Art
There is an increasing number of vehicles provided with a system for automatically stopping the engine by cutting supply of fuel to the engine when the vehicle is stopped at an intersection for example (the system being generally called “idling stop system”) in order to reduce carbon dioxide emission and improve fuel economy of the vehicle. When a vehicle driver of such a vehicle performs an operation to start the vehicle after the engine was stopped by the idling stop system, the starter of the vehicle starts to operate to automatically start the engine in accordance with a command received from an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). Meanwhile, if the starter is of the type including a commutator motor, since sparks occur between the commutator and brushes when the motor is rotating, it may occur that the vehicle driver and passengers feel uncomfortable each time the engine is automatically restarted because such sparks cause noise in a radio receiver or the like.
German patent application laid-open No. 102008001570 describes a structure where a noise reduction filter including a capacitor circuit is connected in parallel with a motor of a starter to cope with this problem.
However, in this structure, a motor lead wire is welded to a metal terminal connected to the brush of the motor and drawn outside the starter, and the noise reduction filter is electrically and mechanically connected to this metal terminal. For starters whose metal terminal is not drawn outside, it is not possible to carry out the step to connect the noise reduction filter to the metal terminal in the starter assembly line.